While lawyers and international bodies do not dispute Russia's aggression against Ukraine and its subsequent accountability, the responsibility of Belarus for participation in the war is often forgotten.  

International bodies have been very vocal about Russia's aggression against Ukraine. For instance, on 14 November 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution on Russian reparations for Ukraine (without mentioning Belarus and its role in the war). The lawyers do not question the fact that the violations of international law did happen – however, Belarus' legal responsibility for participation in the war is rarely addressed.

Lukashenko and his accomplices, who decided to aid and abet Russia's aggression against Ukraine, should be held criminally accountable. We seek to advance this moment by holding Belarus accountable before the UN Human Rights Committee. There have been no such attempts before, as the attention of international bodies and the general public is primarily Russia-centred.

On behalf of the complainants, citizens of Ukraine and Belarus, we have lodged a complaint against Belarus with the Human Rights Committee. We claimed that Belarus, by allowing Russia to use its territory and infrastructure for perpetrating acts of aggression against Ukraine, has failed with respect to the complainants to prevent the risk of arbitrary deprivation of life, ill-treatment, deprivation of security of person.

In this case, the Committee granted our request for interim measures and requested Belarus, pending the Committee’s consideration of the communication or until further notice, "not to allow the use of its territory and infrastructure to conduct military operations, which have a direct impact and causes a real risk of ill-treatment and arbitrary deprivation of life for the authors". 

The views of the HRC, in this case, may be the first instance when an international body recognises that Belarus has committed a crime of aggression. This will be a ground-breaking precedent in international law. We also hope that this decision will assist international bodies in an upcoming criminal prosecution of the responsible individuals, including the settlement of the reparations claims concerning our complainants and other victims of the war.